Charmed Life
by grizzlebear
Summary: GaaraxSakura, AU - A rock star. Crazy fans. An angry manager. Man-eating paparazzi... And where exactly did Sakura fit into all of this?


disclaimer: i don't own naruto, blahh.

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><p><em><span>Charmed Life.<span>_

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><p>It was a blistering summer's afternoon on the platform of the subway. Gaara's manager had been persistent in chasing him through the city, trying to catch up to the young rock star in an attempt to calm the fiery red-head into coming back to the office to smooth out an argument the two of them had earlier. However, Gaara had anger issues and refused to give into his manager.<p>

In a heated, last-minute decision, he had decided to board the next train to take him to anywhere other than here. Even though he knew he wouldn't be able to get away from his international fame, he was insistent on at least _trying_. His red hair was unmistakable, but he covered his eyes with original, inconspicuous Ray-ban Wayfarers.

The train pulled up to the platform, and as soon as the doors opened, he stepped on and slowly, the ground vibrated beneath him and the carriage rocked as the train took off. He kept his eyes low, yet something glimmered in his peripheral vision, taunting him into looking up and catching onto the most mesmerizing person he had ever seen.

A young female sat with a Kindle e-reader in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other, as she slowly sipped at her coffee, whilst reading. She was wearing denim shorts and a loose-cut tee. Her hair was a soft pink, much to his curiosity, but the ends were dip-died a startling blonde hue. It was a few inches below shoulder length and controllably puffed up, like it had been lightly back-combed.

She looked up from her absorbing book when she sensed someone staring at her. She raised her eyebrow when she made eye contact with a lush guy in loose jeans, a black t-shirt and Vans, with Wayfarer's covering his eyes. Nevertheless, she could see him diverting his gaze quickly, as if his eyes had been burnt.

Gaara's eyebrows furrowed at the deep, overwhelming sense that washed over him when the mysterious female looked at him. The feeling was very much foreign. It didn't sit comfortably with him when he couldn't figure something out, especially when it involved a complete stranger. It could have just been his head asking repeatedly '_Did she recognize me?_', but something else told him she didn't, for some unexplainable reason. Nevertheless, the first reaction that went on in Gaara's brain was to run and take the first exit strategy that he could see. It happened to be the door to the next carriage.

He whipped around abruptly and pushed through a few people before he slid open the door to the next carriage and squeezed his way through awkwardly. However, the girl was just as stubborn as him and went after him. She didn't know why she chased after him, but he unknowingly struck a chord deep inside of her.

"Hey!" she called, trying to see his striking locks through the masses of people. "Hey, wait up!"

He swore underneath his breath when he heard her call out to him from the opposite end of the carriage, predominantly because she was attracting attention. Heads whipped up at the commotion, and unfortunately for Gaara, many recognized his face, despite the dark shades.

"Isn't that Sabaku no Gaara?" whispered a hormonal teenage fan.

"_Sabaku no Gaara_?" the pink-haired girl whispered to herself lowly, clueless as to why everyone around her seemed to know the red-head. She cautiously looked around her, and the whole carriage seemed to be abuzz at the mention of the same male she had just chased on a subway train.

His mind flashed with the thought that he had to get off the train. Some of his extreme fans went crazy when they saw him in public, and now that they saw that he didn't have his bodyguards with him, they were sure to turn completely savage!

Much to his relief, the train slowed down as it approached the next station. He looked across the stretch of the carriage and spotted the bewildered expression of the female which interested him in such a unique way. He couldn't just leave all his questions unanswered; he needed explanations.

As soon as the train came to a complete halt and the double doors opened, Gaara, high on adrenaline, grabbed the thin wrist of the pink-haired girl and ran out of the subway train, dragging her hastily with him up a long flight of escalators. He could just about hear the cries of his name being called after him, but thankfully, he was quick to think on his feet and made a beeline to the safest place he knew without attracting any unwanted attention – his management office. There were always paparazzi waiting outside, ready to feast on any star scandals they could grab at, but the butch security guard on duty 24/7 never let any one of them inside the building.

It was twenty minutes away, but Gaara quickly hailed a taxi, ushering the girl in with him. She seemed slightly confused and overwhelmed, but when they were off the noisy streets and into the quiet cab, he sensed her relief to have gotten away from his manic fans and the bustling subway.

She gave out a light sigh of relief, before cautiously lifting her eyes to travel up the male's form, until she reached his face, her eyes resting heavily on his Persian green orbs.

"Who are you?" she breathily whispered, overcome with a feeling that told her that she really _should_ know who he was if she had ever considered reading the tabloids.

He smiled lightly, successfully covering any hints of surprise that he felt. After all, he thought that everybody living in the real world would know who he was; he attracted so much unintentional press with his _'I-don't-give-a-shit'_ attitude. "I'm Sabaku no Gaara."

She rolled her eyes internally, as she pushed to know more. She wasn't deaf; she had learnt his name on the subway. "But _what_ are you?"

"I'm in a band."

His answers were intentionally short and to-the-point. However, he spoke in such a _blasé_ way which attracted her in the most perverse way; she had always felt that she needed to escape society's constant snobby, serious attitude towards life and she had just found her gateway in the embodiment of this hot rock star.

"What are you called?" he asked casually.

"Sakura… Sakura Haruno," she quickly said. "By the way," she continued, as if she had just remembered what she was going to ask, "Where are we going?"

It had completely slipped his mind to tell her their destination. Now it just seemed that she was kidnapped by an enigmatic punk in a band.

"My management office… Hope you don't mind, but I really want to get to know you better." He thought for a second, before he spoke his ideas out loud. "I'm sorry, but you don't have to be anywhere, do you?" He had just randomly taken her off her travel route, from a subway to a taxi cab all in the space of five minutes.

"No," she reassured, "No, of course not." She smiled light-heartedly, before a silence uncomfortably nestled its way between them.

Thankfully, the taxi pulled up near to a deserted sidewalk. Sakura was instantly suspicious when she got out of the cab and looked around her. She had expected more paparazzi for a star agency.

Gaara saw her confused expression, and couldn't help but to give an unusual, but toe-curling, chuckle in his low, smooth baritone. "Don't worry; we're going through the back entrance, as the front is always swarmed with paps."

"Right, makes sense," said Sakura, relieved that she wasn't being led to an unknown back-alley where no one would be able to hear her if she screamed. However, Gaara kept to his word and led her to a small door leading into a large building. They walked through a storage room, filled with shelves of boxes, and through another door, until they were out into the main reception, where Gaara immediately headed towards the elevator.

Once in, he pressed the button to get to the twelfth floor. They arrived at the destination quickly and Sakura looked around her, bewildered at all the people who worked here.

Gaara went straight through, leading Sakura to an office on the other side of all the desks filled with employers on phones and computers, all busy at their job.

"Gaara!" someone called out in front of them. The head poked itself out of the office they were heading to. "Gaara, where the hell have you been? You just jumped on a subway train and disappeared, dude!"

"Sakura," he addressed, leaning in so she could catch his words, "This is my manager… and brother, Kankuro."

"Oh, great," he said sarcastically. "So this is what you've been up to – picking up innocent girls, like we haven't been working our asses off for you."

Sakura looked up at Gaara, raising an eyebrow.

"Ignore him," he reassured, squeezing her hand, down by their sides.

She couldn't lie; his hand on her hand sent shivers up her spine. Her amused smile faltered slightly as she tried to catch her breath.

"Kankuro, this is Sakura Haruno."

"Nice to meet you," he said quickly, holding out a hand for her to shake. She wasn't sure if he meant his words, but either way, she could evidently see his fatigue and stress through his sullen eyes. "Gaara, I need to speak to you in my office," Kankuro said, looking at the red-head with a look that spelled out Sakura wasn't invited.

"I'll wait out here," she said before either Gaara or Kankuro could say anything.

Nevertheless, Gaara gave a thankful squeeze on her hand, before he followed Kankuro through to his office. Sakura waited outside, as she jumped up onto Kankuro's secretary's desk, who was seemingly out to lunch. She looked around her innocently, her feet kicking to and fro. On the desk, she spotted a phone, and she slyly picked it up and dialed in a number, helping herself. It rang a few times before it went to its answering machine.

"Ino?" she said through the phone. "Hey, sorry I didn't make it to lunch today. I got caught up. Hope you understand. I'll make it up to you and buy you, not one, but _two _Starbucks. I'll see you soon."

She quickly hung up, and made sure no one had seen her use the phone.

In the office, Gaara and Kankuro's voices had started out low but soon enough, they were raising their tones, and it turned into an argument which Sakura couldn't help but catch a few words of.

"I'll do what I fucking want to do!" Sakura recognized this voice to be Gaara's.

"_You_," Kankuro seethed_,_ "are a public scandal. Every single day we get a new fucking call about something or another – partying till three in the morning, throwing tantrums, picking up girls. And I'm guessing the pink one is just the same, isn't she?"

There was a haunting silence on the other side of the door, and Sakura bit her bottom lip in tension. She felt the tears burning her throat – she really thought something was different to Gaara than from other guys; she had kind of formed a high school crush on him.

However, her tears vanished when she heard the low, menacing growl of Gaara.

"Don't you dare talk about Sakura that way. She's different and I know it." His tone was threatening and Sakura could tell that scared some sense into Kankuro.

She could hear footsteps coming closer to the door.

"Don't you dare walk out on me!"

She heard the steps stop briefly, turn around, and Gaara saying, "You don't control me. I will do what I fucking want. And I want to make me and Sakura something worthwhile, because you know what, Kankuro? You and this whole fucked-up industry are a _waste of my time_."

Sakura could barely breathe when Gaara finally stormed out of the room. She could feel her heart racing and she didn't even directly participate in the events that had unfolded in the office. However, before she could blink, Gaara, grabbing firmly onto her wrist, dragged her to the elevator, pushed the ground floor button, before pacing towards the front entrance of the building.

Even when she could hear the echoing shouts and cries from people all behind her, she didn't stop to look back. Blood was rushing in her ears; she was ecstatically high.

Gaara looked down at her and smiled warmly before he opened the glass door and dragged her out with him into a swarm of man-eating paparazzi. They circled around them, their cameras flashing blindingly.

But she had barely enough time to gather herself, for, in the rush of the moment, Gaara grabbed her forearms and planted the most passionate kiss she had experienced. It was toe-curling, mind-numbing and every other cliché love metaphor you can imagine!

She could sense the photographers eating up another scandal from the infamous Sabaku no Gaara, but neither of them could care less. She heard the front entrance door opening and a rush of employers, all trying to protect Gaara's private life, tried to push back the cameras, but more had arrived since the steaming kiss and they weren't going down without a fight.

They finally tore apart, Sakura completely breathless from the wonderment she had felt from her toes to the tips of her fingers, burning every fiber in her body.

She smiled up at him and he smirked back, as he took them from the entrance to his management office (or _ex_-management office) to somewhere safe from any more paparazzi. She laughed it off when she stepped inside of his apartment, in the penthouse suite of a rather snazzy hotel.

As soon as they closed the door from the world, Gaara planted another comforting kiss on her lips, placing his hands on her waist protectively. In a haunting gesture, he ghostly whispered on her pale lips, "You're amazing, Sakura."

"And you're a jackass," she joked. But then her attitude turned into a whole new cheeky light, as she exclaimed with a wide smile and an enthusiastic tug at Gaara's shirt, "But I can't wait to see the papers tomorrow!"

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><p><em>Just a short one-shot that started off as a method of procrastination, before I got really into it.<em>

_This is my first Gaara and Sakura pairing, so hope it was alright :/ _

_x_


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